2008 5500 Filings Track DB, DC Plan Trends

December 31, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A review of the Form 5500 filings from 2008 confirms what even the most casual pension observer knows - the financing of America’s private pension system has undergone significant change.

 

In a report forwarded by www.benefitslink.com reviewing the highlights from the 2008 Form 5500 filings by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the agency notes that in 1978, when legislation was enacted authorizing 401(k) type plans that allow employees to contribute to their own retirement plan on a pre-tax basis, participants contributed 29% of the contributions to defined contribution (DC) plans and only 11% of total contributions to all defined benefit (DB) and DC pension plans. 

In the years following, EBSA notes that employee contributions to DC plans steadily rose to a peak of approximately 60% in 1999, where it has remained.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

Other findings from Form 5500 series reports for 2008 plan years:

  • The total amount of assets held by pension plans, which increased each year between 2002 and 2007, decreased $1.4 trillion (23%) in 2008. DB plan assets decreased by $0.6 trillion, while DC plan assets decreased by $0.8 trillion.
  • Assets invested in 401(k) plans decreased 25.2% (to $2.2 trillion from a high of about $3 trillion in 2007).
  • The total number of pension plans, which decreased each year over the 2001-2005 period, rose for the third straight year in 2008 to approximately 718,000 plans, a 1.4% increase over 2007. The number of DC plans rose by 1.6%, while the number of DB plans decreased by 1.2%.
  • In 2008, the total active participant count decreased for the first time in three years, from 86.3 million to 86.2 million. The number of active participants in DB plans decreased for the ninth straight year, by 2.2%.  The number of active participants in DC plans increased to 67.2 million in 2008, up 0.6% from 2007.
  • The number of 401(k) type plans continued to grow in 2008, with the number of plans increasing from 491,000 to 512,000.  The number of active participants in 401(k) type plans rose, albeit slightly from 59.6 million to 60.0 million.
  • DC plan contributions increased by 4% (to $311.7 billion), while DB plan contributions increased by 57% (to $107.3 billion), the largest percentage increase since 2002.  Overall, contributions to pension plans increased by 13.8% in 2008, to $419.0 billion.
  • In 2008, pension plans disbursed $431.1 billion for payment of benefits, with $166.0 billion being disbursed from DB plans and $265.0 billion from DC plans.  These amounts reflect an increase from 2007 of 4.6% in DB plans and a decrease of 9.9% in DC plans.

Overall, pension plans disbursed $12.1 billion more than they received in contributions, 3% of contributions. DB plans disbursed $58.8 billion more than they collected in contributions, while DC plans disbursed $46.6 billion less than they received in contributions.

The percentage of DB plans that report being fully frozen increased to 14.3% from 12.8% in 2007.  That said, in 2008, nearly a third (30.5%) of DB plans with 50-99 participants reported being frozen, the highest percentage by participant categories, compared with 26.2% in 2007. 

Though the share of DB plan assets in plans that were frozen doubled - from 4.7% in 2007 to 8.3% in 2008, IBM's decision to freeze its Personal Pension Plan (with 310,000 participants and $55 billion in assets) fully accounted for this increase, according to the report.

The report is available online at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/PDF/2008pensionplanbulletin.PDF

Exotic Dancers Gain Class Status in Wage Dispute

December 31, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A group of exotic dancers has been awarded class certification by a federal judge in their labor law claim.

 

In Hart v. Rick’s Cabaret Int’l Inc., 09 Civ. 3043, Southern District Judge John G. Koeltl rejected the parent company’s claim that it was not an employer, and thus the dancers were not employees entitled to the laws’ protection, according to the New York Law Journal.

The judge found that the plaintiffs had met their pleading obligations on the employer-employee issue because they had alleged almost complete control over their club activities, including what music they danced to and the pace and manner of their disrobing.  The performers’ principal claims – and they go back as far as 2004 – are that (RCII) failed to pay them minimum wage.  More specifically, they alleged that “they were paid no wages whatsoever.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

In determining whether to allow the suit to proceed against the parent company, Judge Koeltl applied the “economic reality” theory, where the court “looks to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case to determine whether an entity is an ’employer’ within the meaning of the statute.”  Judge Koeltl also said the plaintiffs raised several issues sufficient to satisfy the “commonality” requirement for a class action. The policy of characterizing them as independent contractors, was one such “unifying thread,” he said.

The plaintiffs charged that RCII directly employs regional managers who oversee club operations, including hiring club general managers, and both regional and general managers report to RCII CEO Eric Langan.  The dancers also alleged that RCII sets rules and guidelines governing them and imposes fines and other disciplinary actions, with the general managers acting as agents directly responsible for hiring, firing and disciplining.

Among the rules imposed; Rick’s dancers are required to cover all tattoos while on stage, pay “shift fees” before beginning work, wear heels of a certain height and refrain from gum chewing. They also are required to schedule their shifts in advance and pay a fine if they do not come to work as scheduled, according to the Law Journal report.

 

In a third amended complaint, plaintiffs Sabrina Hart and Reka Furedi said the club exercised employer-level control through "entertainer guidelines" whereby they are required to dance on a schedule set by a disc jockey, are not allowed to select their own music, and are "told how much clothing to remove during each song, i.e., top only during the first song and then all clothing, save a G-string, during the second song." 

"The complaint further alleges that the plaintiffs were classified as independent contractors pursuant to a decision by Langan that set the policy for entertainer compensation at RCII's subsidiary clubs nationwide," Judge Koeltl said. "Taken as a whole, these allegations 'raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence' that RCII is an 'employer' of the plaintiffs and the members of the putative class within the meaning of FLSA."

According to the Law Journal, the class certification could cover as many as 1,700 exotic dancers under New York Labor Laws §190 et seq., §650 et seq. and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Lawyers for the plaintiffs are still proceeding with a collective action that could cover as many as 10,000 dancers throughout the country. Rick's Cabaret International (RCII) oversees 21 adult clubs nationwide, according to the report.

«